1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to flexible ice-cream coating compositions comprising sugar and a special triglyceride composition, and the use of such compositions in providing coated ice cream products.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventional ice-cream coatings are based on lauric fats. Preferred lauric fats applied for this purpose are coconut oil and palm kernel oil or fractions thereof. However, such fats have drawbacks when applied in ice-cream coatings. Apart from the fact that the SAFA-level, ie. the total of saturated fatty acids and trans-unsaturated fatty acids is very high (90-100%), it was also found that the use of these fats in ice-cream coatings led to products that were brittle. Therefore these products are difficult to process and must be handled with care upon transportation, for else the coatings will crack.
A solution for this problem was found in the development of so called "flexible ice-cream coatings". An example of a flexible ice-cream fat composition is disclosed in EP 502,697. According to this disclosure the composition should contain a fat phase that comprises 10-85 wt % of S.sub.2 U-triglycerides and 15-90 wt % of SU.sub.2 -triglycerides, while at least 35 wt % S.sub.2 U consists of S.sub.2 Ln (Ln=C.sub.18:2). According to the specification fats, wherein the S.sub.2 Ln mainly consists of SSLn are useful for frozen desserts. In the examples 16, 17 and 18 different applications of these fats are illustrated; ie. in ice-cream-in-sugar corn cups; as cub-like chocolates in ice-cream and as ice-cream bars, containing a chocolate centre. Also the application of these fats in ice-cream coatings or as coating of an ice-cream cone is mentioned in the text. It is further disclosed that the presence of liquid fats would be useful for oral mouth feel, but is disadvantageous for the cooling properties. We found novel fat compositions, that combine good flexibility with good drying times and still contain appreciable amounts of liquid oil. Moreover, the use of fats high in SSLn means that no natural fats can be applied, as no natural fat is known that is high in SSLn. Therefore these fats must by synthesized.
We have studied, whether we could find fats, that when applied in ice-cream coating compositions would display at least a similar flexibility as the above known fats, however the fats should be derivable from natural fats.
Moreover the fats should, when applied in ice-cream coating compositions lead to compositions with a viscosity at the temperature of its use, which enables it to spray them on the inside of a (ice-cream) cone, without sticking to the top of the cone and/or without running through the cone and collecting as a liquid mass at the bottom of the cone.
For this purpose so far partially hardened rapeseed oil was often used. This fat however is rich in trans fatty acids and is therefore considered as unhealthy.